http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk A systematic photographic view of Oxford Sun, 02 May 2010 06:27:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Now that 1/3rd of 2010 has gone, I figured it was time for a brief update. I'm please that more than 1/3rd of nodes for the main grid have been assigned. However, unless we get a significant increase in photographers signing up, I'll be assigning a couple more nodes to each photographer sometime in August. I've been down to my node a few times to get photos at different time throughout the year, and I imagine many of you will be doing the same. So I'm not to surprised there have been no official photo submissions. One photo has been sent tot the group pool, but this hasn't been accepted yet because it isn't cropped square. Don't forget you will need to submit the photo as square. Lastly, if there are any javascript/php geeks out there wanting to help a little with the website - please contact me. http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/one-third-gone/285 We've added a new "for photographers" page for the project photographers. Currently list is just a list of useful pages and resources for the photographers. The password is the same as for the "Guide for photographers" which would have been emailed to you when you signed up. You can use the new page to access the Guide for photographers. http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/for-photographers-page/247 More photographers seem to be signing up for the main grid than the portrait grid. If you're nervous about portrait photography, then we would recommend the excellent Portrait course [1] offered by the Oxford School of Photography [2]. We're grateful for their support of this project. [1] http://www.oxfordschoolofphotography.co.uk/portrait.html [2] http://www.oxfordschoolofphotography.co.uk/ http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/how-to-join-in-with-the-portrait-grid/239 The photography for the project is going to take place throughout 2010, so that means we're started. The Guide for photographers has been updated with a few more details today, inlcuding a model release for the portrait grid, a property release should you need one, and a license for your photos so that we can use them for the project. Please encourage all you Oxford-based photography friends to participate! http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/and-were-off/219 A list of the photographers [1] and the node [2] they are photographing has been added to the website, and the grid map [3] has been updated. If you'd like to be a photographer, please register on the participate [4] page. [1] http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/about-the-project/the-photographers [2] http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/about-the-project/the-photographers [3] http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/about-the-project/the-grid [4] http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/participate http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/photographer-list/186 Many thanks go to Matt Durber [1] for the designed of the new banner image. The banner uses photographs (l-r) by Jim Linwood [2], Natalia Romay [3], Harshil Shah [4], Jim Linwood [5], Dave Morris [6] and Natalia Romay [7]. We are grateful for their permission to use these images. [1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/lankybadger/ [2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/3398196720/ [3] http://www.flickr.com/photos/nataliaromay/2748736835/ [4] http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshilshah/2435211026/ [5] http://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/3401638618/ [6] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davemorris/75974409/ [7] http://www.flickr.com/photos/nataliaromay/3234497896/ http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/banner-image-updated/183 Dear Oxford Photographic Grid Photographer, Thanks for registering to be a photographer for the Oxford Photographic Grid. I thought I'd send you all an update, particularly for the benefit of those who registered some time ago and haven't heard anything. I've been pretty busy recently, so haven't been able to give much time to the project. However, I'm got a few weeks off work in August so I'll be dedicating some of that time to getting significant progress made (hopefully) - see below... While it would be nice to get the photography side of the project under way, it's better to do things right and do the project well rather than do it quickly. I hope you agree. Currently we have almost 20 photographers, but 197 grid nodes. The ideal would be to have one photographer per grid node, so do tell any of you photography-minded-Oxford-based friends about the project. If it doesn't look like we'll ever get to 197 photographers, the other option is for each photographer to photograph several nodes. However it would be good to keep it to 5 or so nodes per photographer. If you haven't done so... please join the Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/oxford-photographic-grid/). There are a few discussion topics on there which it would be great to have input on. Some of these relate to licensing of photos etc so it is important that you have your say. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evie_z/">&quot;annaphotographer&quot;</a> kindly drafted some scrounging letters for me to try to get sponsorship for the project. These will be sent out once <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lankybadger/">&quot;lankybadger&quot;</a> has finished creating the logo for the project. If you know anyone who might be interested in sponsoring the project, please let me know. Currently we're looking to get a few prizes for the &quot;junior grid&quot; to motivate schools participation, but it would be nice to get funding for other parts of the project, such as any potential exhibition. In August I will: Update the grid and email you with details of your node, assuming one photographer per node. Get some sponsorship (hopefully). Contact local schools about the junior grid. I'm sure there's more for me/us to work on, but I hope that give you an idea of where we are at. Cheers, Mark http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/dear-oxford-photographic-grid-photographer-july-edition/135 We are now accepting registrations by photographers for this project (For the Main Grid and the Portrait Grid - the Junior Grid will follow later...). You do not need to be a professional photographer, the only requirements are: Photographers should: A love of photography A strong connection with Oxford Have at least 6Mpix camera, or for film users the  ability to get high-resolution scans. Please note that while photographers will retain copyright of their images, they will be required to license the use of their project photograph(s) to the project for a wide range of uses in connection with the project. Register on the participate [1] page. [1] http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/participate http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/register-as-a-photographer/126 We've developed a little application to generate the grid node on Google maps. Now we just need to tweak the parameters a bit. There are three things that control the grid; the starting point (North & East) and the node spacing. The spacing will largely define the number of nodes in the region. We want it to provide reasonable coverage of the city, without having too many nodes. It would get silly if you could see one node point from the next - that would almost be resorting to "Google Streetview" coverage! At the moment we are considering either  1/3 mile  or 1/2 mile spacing. This will result in 100 to 200 nodes. We are varying the start point slightly to ensure that a node lies within each of the protuding regions of the city (Barton, Botley, Wytham, Mini Factory etc), particularly to ensure that a node falls within Wytham. The part of the region that extends to include Wytham is so small that, depending on spacing, it can be completely missed. Within a few days we should have settled on the grid. http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/generating-the-grid/95 A group has been formed of Flickr [1] to discuss finer details of the project to nail everything down prior to the photographic element. Issues being discussed include licensing, model releases and the financial side. Please join this group if you have an interest in help to run the project. [1] http://www.flickr.com/groups/oxford-photographic-grid/ http://www.oxford-photographic-grid.org.uk/sorting-out-the-nitty-gritty/82